Quiescent Blade
by Thorn Falconeye
Summary: Story of intrepid adventurers with a theme of percieved reality and religious conflict... I will start writing more once I get back in school


Quiescent blade

By: Thorn Falconeye

I don't own the forgotten realms(tm) CS, D&Dv.3.5, etc, etc, you may steal any of this and I can't stop you, but please don't.

Ch.1:The Portal

Taren had to say why we couldn't join him that Saturday. Saturday is our time of friendship, where we get together and play a rousing game of 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons. That Saturday, He arrived at my house first, complete with a black spy suitcase that he dragged up behind him, jolting his slender frame at every crack he ran over. "are we ready to play?" Seth inquired annoyingly, holding his suitcase out to me. "no, we must wait for the others to arrive; this is a group game" I replied, watching the open street and wondering how today's session would go, featuring a new player: the bratty 11 year old Seth Karim, hooked on the 'Mon's' and richer than the rest of us combined. Thankfully within moments, Alicia and Taren Sari pulled onto the driveway, their green jeep crunching to a halt like an old man attempting to scale a rope. Alicia was taking psychology in high school, and had first joined the group hoping to see an example of 'reality modifying the psyche to fit external stimuli'. She had loosened up after the first couple of sessions, and was now trying to get her little brother to come; it counted as her high school-exemption project: Affecting resilient religious beliefs. Taren was young, and had a lot to learn about perceptions based on the gaming table. After introductions, we waited around for the last 2 members: driving together in a beat-up old truck, they stopped right in front of our mail-box, trying not to crush the brand new black 'Kurosawa family' letters. Luke Evans, a post-college gamer exited first, from the drivers side with a "Yo Matt, I didn't break it this time" as he said that, a short girl in a ratty t-shirt that had to be at least 3 years old exited from the passengers' side. More introductions, and some insults, then we all headed upstairs to teach young Seth thesimplistic 3rd edition rules. Six hours, and a delicious home-cooked meal later, we voiced the conclusion that play would be impossible. Seth smiled, and opened up his suitcase, sendingdozens of 3 episode DVD's with covers featuring badly-drawn children and smiling monsters out onto the Berber carpet like the tide coming in. "Let's watch ANIME!" he squeaked, causing Anne toshove her face intoher ratty shirt, further staining it beyond cotton endurance. "My god… you must be rich to have all those DVD's!" she whimpered, eying the anime with wide eyes. "Ahhh, these are just my traveling tapes; Ionly bring along my finest 3 seasons" Seth exclaimed, with the gusto one would use after being elected president. By the time Anne dried her green eyes crying, we had all decided to spend the night together, and Seth could stay because my father worked for his father. We fell asleep amid the gaming clutter, but awoke silently at 2 to hold a secret gaming session without Seth in the sparingly-used attic. Then things started getting eerie; in the corner of the attic, there was a fluctuating red hole that seemed to draw all attention towards it. Being an avid player, I assumed it was a planar gate, connecting dimensions together, but that wasn't really real, was it? We studied the gate for what seemed like hours, prodding the odd stick or boxes halfway through it, only to have them sucked the rest of the way through by an intangible force. I 'volunteered' to stick my hands in it when Seth appeared, dragging his suitcase behind him. "cool hole, what is it?". Alicia tried to explain that we didn't know what it was, but, apparently, he had been watching too many heroic flicks and anime because he took his suitcase, threw it through, and jumped in after it with a hearty "Wheeeeeee!" A council was formed on whether we should follow him through. I was all for going through, being an optimist/atheist, Seth didn't care mumbling about 'choosing a fork, that's all that matters' :he was happy as long as their was a choice. Taren, being a Christian, said it was the work of Satan, as it was lined in red, so we should get some holy water and the pope. Alicia had never seen anything like it, and was all for it. Anne said it didn't matter, so it was 4:1 not good odds for staying I was pushed in first, followed by the rest in a mob. After a flash of blue light, it was all over.

Ch 2: Entrance to Hell?

We found ourselves in a black square surrounded by endless white and on the other side of the square, there was a blue tear like fabric cut with a knife and a finger stuck through it, a man between us and the opposing portal. He was wearing a crisp black suit with navy, government issue slacks, and matching dress shoes, polished to perfection. But we couldn't take our eyes off his: bloodshot and dilated with purple pupils standing out of a sunken face, pale as death with pursed red lips accompanied by jowls ending right below the chin. Cracked with age and the burden of knowledge, we thought he spoke directly to our minds with his quiet "Why are you here?" as his lips didn't move. "We have come through a portal in my attic, and have no real reason for being here."

I hoped It didn't sound as stupid as I felt. "I am guarding an influx of planar overlapping; rifts seem to have been constantly opening and closing for as long as I have been here, but none have come here before you." "Don't you need to eat and sleep, you sound as if you have been here a long time, and who are you?" "I, am Dr. Ernest Mantari, the governments top planar psychologist, and as for time, that concept is irrational here; as we are only souls." "What, then how can I see your clothes, and mine, as well as our physical forms?" "Because that is what I wish to appear as, and you are willing to believe the perception that I give out, so you 'see' me, and I 'see' you because that is how you perceive yourself." "What does the government have to do with this?" "What doesn't the government have to do with anything" Mantari countered, "our greed-inspired society has always had their hand in everything: for good or evil" After all this, we were overwhelmed and confused, all of us except Luke; his Satanist religion opposing the unproven. "So, that portal may lead to another world…or plane?" "In theory, yes: we have probably stumbled upon a road in which souls travel through worlds. I am not going into any portal, and none of us can fathom the complete consequences of this multi-planar interaction, but you are free to be my guinea pigs." After little thought, Seth blurts out "So we may end up in the world of our dreams?" "or your living hell, slowly sapping your soul, put it all in perspective" "Holy Cheese, I'm going through" with that he ran for the portal, and was clotheslined by Luke's outstretched fist. "Wait, how could something sap your soul?"

"It is pathetically simple; the human mind is viewed as a soul and, as we all know, common western religions say it disappears after we die, leaving us 'shining in eternal light' that we cannot feel. In truth, the soul is the unique combination of billions of particles in neutrons known as strings: these strings contain minute charges, both positive and negative, that make up our being. These charges slowly diminish over eons, until our soul breaks, becoming nothing more than independent neutrons floating in space, waiting to be exchanged for other processes. As for how a plane could harm your soul, imagine this: The plane has no notion of orientation; perception rules more so than normal, as your senses have nothing to do with stimuli on this plane: it is an infinite plane, and as such, it causes your mental processes to shift out of a set zone, because when the world is beyond your comprehension, your instincts attempt to compensate. But, as there is no idea of how much to compensate, the neutrons making up your soul will unconsciously shift with the thoughts until the strings themselves are isolated. With isolation, space provides no basis for charge, as other strings would. The strings making up charges of matter on the edges of your soul would lose their charge, splitting any magnetic hold they had before, and disappearing into themselves. Soon, you have lost fragments of your soul that never existed. Or perhaps you try to create a perspective where you are the universe, causing those strings to move together, overlapping in infinite dimensions, creating charges within charges; the strings would be inside themselves at the same time hey weren't, because of the planar overlapping. This creates a black hole effect, where the soul is broken from within: subtle sub-harmonics rattling your soul to pieces, while you are oblivious to all but the nothing you would perceive around you from a body that has been torn from your perception." We pondered for precious moments, then Taren blurted out "Wait, That is he entrance to hell, and the Dr. is…" he fainted, and Seth used the distraction to throw his bag through the portal, with him following it. We followed suit; if a mere Christian child cold have the chance of a lifetime, the courage to take it, and perhaps destroy his life, why couldn't we join him? This time, the light was red, and seemed to be almost tangible, but as I mentally reached out, the world spun to a stop.

Ch. 3 A New Life

We appeared in a well adorned room, with sensual glowing candles illuminating a blue velvet rug, with a matching pair of sofas and an onyx bed, complete with crystal alchemical items littered across a huge ebony table. A wizened old man, hunched on one of the plush sofas behind a large flask full of a hazelnut-colored substance, his wild gray hair continually swinging forwards onto a thick leather-bound tome that he was frantically scribbling in, occasionally muttering to himself or snapping his head up to stare at us. Well into the third page, he seemed to realize that we were sentient yet not wholly evil, and staring at him, so he suddenly slammed the book shut, threw it into the air, and babbled on in some inane language for a few seconds. We had no idea what he had said, and when he cocked his eyebrows in a confused manner, I attempted to speak with him. "Hello" I inquired "Do you speak English?" he responded with "Foryoth blyx main tors upondel" " Eeeeeennnglish!" "Daryeth moruge quath blie?" Obviously not. Snorting and raising himself on gangly limbs, he once again muttered to himself and suddenly said in perfect English, with a little Canadian accent "Hello, I am arch magus Bailey the third, and who might you be?" After our names were recited, we attempted to shake hands. Instantly, a wall of flames encircled him. "Ah, terribly sorry, my wards are still up, and will remain that way until I read the code, regardless of intent: do you wish for the full code, or the useful parts?" "Probably just the useful" "fine, fine, no bard am I, but I do wish I would get to recite the entire code every once in a while; it is so precise. " Harrumph "Good day planar traveler: this is the code of living for all current and future citizens of Fa�run, as set down by Arch magus Blackstaff in the tradesmeet of 505."

"Item #1: All planar travelers may be provided with a ring of 'tongues' for their first 6 months here, as it is the average amount of time needed to set vocal patterns of the common tongue.

Item #2: all must announce their profession or job to whosoever is reading this, or write it in the paper at the back of this book for posterity.

Item #3: your alignment will be searchedbefore leaving… Oh, I must see to that now, or I will surely forget: stand a good four feet apart from each other, thank you." He muttered more gibberish, then the room lit up as little circles of light formed around us, differing in color and shape. Around myself, the circle was white and perfectly rounded. As I peered to the right though, I caught a glimpse of the others' circles. Seth was putting his hand through his, which was a circle of green that seemed to be drawn by a 2-year old with arthritic hands. Close by him was Anne, with a well drawn circle much like mine, but a vibrant red color, deeply tinted like fire. Taren had a mint circle, not white or green, that was drawn hastily, but with definite shape. Alicia was pacing in her perfect green circle, while Luke watched her circle move with her as his green circle writhed and contorted, its' jagged edges never reaching a constant. Bailey the third recorded the circle color and shape of each of us in his book, then turned back to us, and continued reading.

"Item #74: stealing is bad, as well as insulting guards and killing innocents without a license or appropriate reason." After that rule, his bowels made a rumbling noise and he clutched his chest. Wide eyed, he started to run through a side door and quickly threw a handful of shining objects at us, talking as he ran, "Those are the most important rules, so all of you must remember other than that is 'crime leads to punishment' here are your rings, the door is over there, go away, I'll see you in six months!" Seth cheered as he caught his ring, and we all had huge grins stamped upon our faces; this was a new world, new beginning without endless school and paltry events: this world held promise, and we were ready.

Ch. 4: to reunite

"Alright, so we're all going to split up and meet back here in 2 months, at the eve of tradesmeet… right here at the Green Gate Inn."

The eve of tradesmeet, I arrived at the Green Gate Inn first, in my new mage's garb: a long, open robe, with hundreds of pockets and a light yellow dye, to go with my staff. It was expensive, but the mage's school had never seen my plastic polyhedrons. They were most prized possessions of mine, but I wanted the yellow velvet robe, with silk mantle, more. For the staff, my knowledge of spells helped convince them that I was worthy of the 'Royuah no Koro'. The staff was degraded to a simple walking stick of tike the wood, it's blue sapphire top being handled as I swung it around, making whistling noises as I waited for the others. Alicia walked in next, her hawk familiar staring at me with its piercing golden eyes, sweeping its' wings to keep a center of balance on her light green tunic, loose fitting on her slender frame, with matching green leggings, ending with brown animal fur shin pads, and well crafted leather moccasins. What drew ones' attention though, was the odd style of her weapons: she had a bow similar to one I had seen in war movies: an old English Longbow, taller than her, clasped to her back, a long sword with green garnet pommel jewel and of normal style hanging from her side, next to a quiver of arrows, each variously designed. "You must be lady Sari of the north woods, known for your bow skills and Hawk familiar?" I asked, with a smile spreading upon my face, causing her to join with me in a friendly embrace, looking into my eyes, "I am still Alicia to you, and you are still my friend." Pleasantries were shared, followed by a large order of 8 ales, 2 vintage year 438 wines, and 6 full meals, me using what precious money I had, hoping the others could provide a counterbalance for the exorbitant tab. Seth entered next, barging in noisily, causing the patrons to turn their heads, chuckle at him, and return to their business. "Greetings peasants" said the squeaky voice coming from within the soup can, "I come with good tidings and tales of my great exploits in the south to join with my warrior friends!" He clomped over to our table, about 4 ½ feet tall, wearing a full suit of knights' full plate, his knee-high boots with pointed toes scratching the oak floorboards, and custom greaves made square, giving his torso and legs the appearance of shining box, offering little leeway for movement. Ruby bejeweled gauntlets reaching out to keep his balance; it was thrown off by the great sword on his back in a black frog, tightly strapped to ensure difficult access and rigid appearance. "hiya guys, how are you doing? I'm a cool traitor knight now, see: they gave me this tattoo and said that if they saw me again in their realm, I would be publicly quartered… hey, nee-chan, hey matt, what have you been doing?" I was still looking for his reputation in my mind; I remembered seeing him before… "er..Seth, I've heard of you" "You have!" he asked, puffing up with confidence and trying to do a knight's salute. "Yeah, Captain Shrike had a lot to say about you 'By the gods, If I ever see that shrimp trying to get into my patrol again…. He'll be lucky to rot in hell with Bane!' " "Hahaha" A voice boomed out from the closed front door, I've seen Bane just last month, told me I was going to join him if they could ever pin me down long enough to kill me!" It was a cloaked figure, with black banded mail, spiked gauntlets and bracers. Thy complimented the high black boots trimmed with crimson thread, made higher by the oak door they stood on. The man also had a long, flowing silver lined onyx cape, which swayed in harmony with the black scabbard holding a wondrous Katana, with a red glow surrounding it, even from inside the scabbard. Now this was a man to be respected, said the eyes of the patrons, this man who is a true knight in disguise; they offered to buy 'Milord' some ale, even 302 blackwater from the sword coast, with fear absent in their voice, filled by respect and adulation for him. It was Luke. Sitting down and throwing his feet upon the chair next to his, he let out a grin and asked what we had done with the time, because he had never heard of us. "Why should we have heard of you?" I asked, bringing the chuckling response of, "I have heard of me, and I imagine most of these local boys have too: think; I used a different name." "Wait… not Lucifer!" "Yup, took 90,000 gp worth of merc jobs from the lot of them, in sixteen different kingdoms too: try to name _one_ in 200 miles that I haven't had the leader of their first file envious of my exploits." The conversation had reduced Taren to sulking in the corner of the inn, sullen because of the obvious stupidity of the patrons. What did they see in him, a champion of evil, when there was the great ex-knight Lord Taren of the Fallen Moon, who had deserted the knighthood in search of a greater good? He had just finished his speculation when he felt a grimy hand digging in his pocket. "HEY! THIEF" he yelled, causing the navy-blue hooded menace to draw two tarnished wakizashis, dripping with a glowing green substance that was surely lethal. He attempted to pull out his great sword, and ran straight at the heartless thief, yelling loudly and staring into the green eyes at his own level. The rouge quickly sidestepped, showing short red hair to him, with the left wakizashi cutting the air to get to Taren's shoulder…which was stopped by a red katana, thin flames leaping across the blade, ready to shatter the puny blade that now stood obstructing it. I had my staff spearing towards the fool who dared mess with us, when I remembered those green eyes. "Anne?" I asked, shoving Luke's blade aside. She pulled down her hood, leaving her face exposed. It was not the cruel face of a miser, nor the gaunt, thin face of a thief. It was the face of the farmer down the road, high cheekbones under brown skin, with a face that told of good food, and regular meals. But her equipment, other than the cloak and tooled-leather belt, was shabby: leather ripped in many places, shoes with holes, her wakizashis looked beyond repair, and made by a drunkard with far too little iron. "Hey, I had hoped of getting us a little cash, seeing as there are so many of us" "Glad you could make it" remarked Luke, sheathing his sword with a twirl of his cape "but NEVER expect me to back off like that next time, everyone is good as long as they aren't in my way, that goes for you too, Matt, but where is Seth?"

"Ah, another reason I came" said Anne "some bozo named 'Munenori' seems to have captured him, brought him to an old outpost on the sword coast, and he gave me good money to bring you this letter. already read it, but didn't have the brawn to break him out""Did you get any information on his forces?" I asked, hesitant to attack pell-mell "Ha, I'm not incompetent at scouting, I even made it in the Zhentarim and earned a rep there. He has mostly muscled barbarians, and a few cavalry archers. He has near no grasp for commander tactics, and will probably mob his men."

We headed to Luke's lair, and he brought us some horses from his private stores, which seemed to be a well stocked castle behind his house. The trip there was uneventful, with men watching the adventuring group with hats off, and threw rocks at the knight when he wasn't looking.


End file.
